DHB drops in for practice

Let’s be fair about it. It wasn’t exactly an optimum situation to go out for your first pass as a rookie first-round draft pick with a reported $23.5 million guranteed in your back pocket.

All the other Raiders receivers had been going through warm-ups together, catching some passes, while Darrius Heyward-Bey got in a little late while his contract was finalized.

But the Raiders couldn’t resist taking their high-speed toy for a test drive, and after he was done being stretched by a trainer, Heyward-Bey took the field. He went vertical of course, lining up on the left side and streaking 35 yards downfield.

Quarterback Charlie Frye arched a somewhat wobbly pass his way. Heyward-Bey got his hands on it, then it clanked to the ground.

“Didn’t get no balls before I got out there,’’ Heyward-Bey said. “That’s not good. But coach was like, `Go out there.’ And after that play it was like, `Well, you didn’t get any balls. He was like, `OK, that was my fault.’ Just the first day, getting out there right after the warmup. Things happen.’’

Afterward, the Raiders went to team sessions where there were no passes thrown. Instead was a procession of quick whistles and choreography, making sure they were lined up correctly, making the right reads. Footwork was checked.

At one point, passing game coordinator Ted Tollner called Heyward-Bey over told him of a mistake in a pass route.

As usual, there is little drama when it comes to the Raiders and their draft picks. The Raiders remain among the NFL’s best when it comes to bringing in their draft picks, with the JaMarcus Russell impasse the only blemish.

“I was aware of that, and I felt like it was headed in the right direction and it would get done so I had some comfort with it, but at the same time I wanted all of them here at the first meeting. He is here now and we worked today and he will get right into the flow of things.’’

Heyward-Bey, who proclaimed his hamstring ready to go (he missed time during mandatory minicamp and the OTAs), said he didn’t want to wait around until the 49ers Michael Crabtree signed or get the proper slot between Nos. 6 (Andre Smith) and 8 (Eugene Monroe) .

“I’ve always been concerned with myself and only me from Day 1,’’ Heyward-Bey said. “ I really can’t worry about what everybody else is doing. We were focusing on being a Raider and that’s it.’’

More news and notes from the second practice:

— Moments after Heyward-Bey went to the field house to get his equipment on and join his teammates, Andrew Walter made his way off the practice field for the last time, having been given his freedom.

He had just received the news he had been hoping for and was looking forward to a “good vibe’’ and new employer.

“I’m very excited for a fresh start,’’ Walter said. “We’ll see what happens. The only thing different that I would have hoped for is that it would have happened earlier. Things haven’t changed since February and it occurred just now. The timing is something I can’t control.’’

The Raiders gave permission Walter to seek a trade in the offseason, but with clubs knowing to a reasonable certainty he would be cut eventually, there were no takers. Walter, the one-time quarterback of the future whose Raiders career will forever be linked to Tom Walsh, Art Shell and the “Bed and Breakfast’’ offense, should get a shot somewhere.

Seattle, where Greg Knapp is the offensive coordinator, is a possibility. So is Denver, where Josh McDaniels isn’t as much of a stickler for mobile quarterbacks as Mike Shanahan was.

— Guard Paul McQuistan, who had offseason knee surgery, sat out the second practice, as did fullback Oren O’Neal. Derrick Burgess remained a no-show.

Chris Morris worked with the first team at left guard, followed by Mark Wilson.

— Tommy Kelly left briefly to have his ankle worked on, but returned to practice and didn’t jump offsides.

— Cable made a point after the morning session to that it didn’t matter much until Monday who worked with the first and second teams.

Still, it was at least mildly interesting that Stanford Routt got more work with the first team defense than did Chris Johnson, who signed the stealth off-season contract with a $4 million signing bonus.

— There isn’t much time before the whistle to make a play, but on one snap Jon Alston knifed through and got his hands on Darren McFadden on a sweep to the left.

— Details continued to be a priority, with defensive coordinator John Marshall reminding Gerard Warren about where he lined up, “Don’t get in there too tight, Gerard,’’ Marshall said.

— The run defense isn’t the only area where the Raiders plan to tighten things up. The media is now restricted to a 30-yard box on each field. Instead of being able to walk from field to field around an end zone, as in past years, a Raiders employee must lead the way.

I’ll refrain from calling it an “escort service.’’

Makes for an almost impossible view in some cases when the team is near the 50-yard line and players are in the way.

At one point, the guide was forced to stop near a stack of pads used for drills. When two reporters sat down for a moment, the cell phone of the security guard rang almost instantly.

“You have to get up,’’ he said somewhat reluctantly.

— The Raiders became the sixth team to get all their draft picks signed, joining Baltimore, Chicago, the New York Jets, Pittsburgh and Atlanta.

The Bears had no first-round pick and the Jets just three picks overall.

SNB Defense Says:
July 31st, 2009 at 10:08 am
I still don’t understand why Cable didn’t use that extra mandatory mini-camp. Some of this “installation” and “fundamentals” could have been done with those 3 extra days.

Raiders just took a water break. On a 60 degree day with marine layer. With no contact. At least one gets hurt – DWhite tweet

AZ Raider

I don’t know if our OT woes are that pressing. LT spot is locked and i’m confident Henderson IS and WILL be the man there for a while. Now the RT spot is in the air. Cable can work magic with linemen minus Kwame, so we brought in a few guys to compete for Greens spot, so lets see… We are SET at LG for a
L O N G T I M E (Gallery to the ProBowl!). RG and RT are where we need a little help, but there is competition there too.

Where I thought we REALLY needed help was out front 7. Turns out (according to Nnamdi & Kirk) gap disapline was not something Ryan ever seemed concerned about. So I’ll wait to see how the F7 hold up this year. Chances are it will be better but still not championship caliber. Maybe next year we draft a stud MLB or DT, and move Kirk outside with Howard. I don’t know, but the Oline, isn’t as bad a people make out.

Who is this Southwick kid i heard he got cut u think he is coming back

RaiderRockstar

GO #6 !!!

SOUTHWICK! SOUTHWICK! SOUTHWICK!

where’s that DBW kid? somebody needs to splash some water in his face to wake him up. Southwick is the pride of Provo, Utah. Soon to be Oakland, California.

dknight007

# preisttj Says:
July 31st, 2009 at 8:18 am

I like Crabtree as aplayer but he said he didn’t think much of playing for the Raiders. He completely turned the Raiders off because they were picking 7 overall he thought he would go 1 or 2, The Browns wanted him but he did the same thing to them.

Sucks to be him. As for Maclin I said befre the drraft that I didn’t want Maclin nor DHB I still feel we should’ve drafted Monroe. Hopefully this helps!!

Damn how many times do I need to say this, everyone had DHB rated higher than I did before the draft but I after studying him I understand why the Raiders drafted him. Not my pick I optimistic about the kids chances. So we’ll see…

^^^^^^
I had rim rated as the 2nd best WR in the draft but with the most upside to the speed, size, long arm and athleticism ratio. Most had Maclin rated #2 but for DHB was ranked #2 with me…..especially for the Raiders since JLH and Maclin are similar players. No need to draft a guy with the same skill set as someone who is already on your roster on the WR/PR teams

Southwick is a Mormon phenom out of Occidental, late bloomer like CJ. Remember the name…

AZ Raider

DO NOT HATE ON MY BOY SOUTHWICK Says:
July 31st, 2009 at 10:16 am
GGGOOO LLLAAAKKKEERRRSS!

Any tweets from Jerry to report?
……………………………………………….

Jerry is the last to post anything, and that includes tweets. The 9ers beat writers get the news to us before Jerry does. But at least he pays attention to details LOL…

RaiderRockstar

BSJ: Danny Southwick’s nickname is “D Smooth”

just found that on his website … sweet!

RaiderRockstar

BSJ called it!

as soon as Walter was out the door, Southwick was back in …

Hopefully Tom Cable is a good enough talent evaluator to keep the best 3 QB’s on the roster. Southwick is definately one of them!

AZ Raider

W…..T……F……

RaiderRockstar

any recent tweets from Jerry Mac?

lefty12

everyone seems so concerned about DHBs hands are you concerned about Z.Millers?do you realize he was in the top 10 last year in drops?DHB will be fine.just because C.Carter said he couldn’t catch doesn’t make it true.Carter is just another anti-Raider guyBTW,DHB hasn’t ran track since high school so i don’t believe calling him a track star is accurate.

everyone seems so concerned about DHBs hands are you concerned about Z.Millers?do you realize he was in the top 10 last year in drops?DHB will be fine.just because C.Carter said he couldn’t catch doesn’t make it true.Carter is just another anti-Raider guyBTW,DHB hasn’t ran track since high school so i don’t believe calling him a track star is accurate.

^^^^^^Carters brain is fried from too much cocaine as well….screw no titles Chris Carter!

RaiderRockstar

Heck I would rather have Southwick as the 3rd QB

***

preach it 007!

Danny Southwick is going to be a starter in this league. I hope he starts his NFL journey here in Oakland – not in Minny or Denver!

RaiderRockstar

be back later. work to do …

keep up the good work Danny boy!

silence the haters!

DirtyBathWater

Raiderrockstar im here lol man I just don’t see what you see, maybe I need a new pair of eyes cause southwick is just another cut player to me

Raiders just took a water break. On a 60 degree day with marine layer. With no contact. At least one gets hurt – DWhite tweet

DWhite doesn’t realize you can dehydrate in any weather? PROTECT THE HAMMYS!

SNB Defense

From the SI.Com Article

“It’ll be interesting to see if Marshall, who was the Seahawks’ coordinator the past three seasons, has more autonomy than Ryan, whose game plans and play calls were said to be heavily influenced by owner Al Davis. The Raiders are sticking with their base 4-3 scheme and, again, will rely on the bump-and-run pass coverage that Davis prefers.”

Rob Ryan, for all his faults, stuck around for 5 full seasons. He survived several head coaches. He was Al’s guy. So Davis influence is relevant.

I think talking about Al Davis’ potential influence in game day planning is as relevant as talking about JaMarcus Russells’ accuracy.

The big change is the change in coaching. So the question that people raise is whether John Marshall will have the freedom to do what he thinks is best….or have to make modifications that could hurt the team.

DirtyBathWater

Lol man maybe im just delusional or sumthn

AZ Raider

3 TD and 4 INT’s = On his way up to what? 25 TD’s and 44 INT’s?

Thec

NATION, what is UP?????

Gotta ask a question, not here to be little but who
is danny Southwick?????? I know the obvious like QB, mormon etc…

Do you guys think he is good for this team as a 3 possible 2, maybe a 1 if JRUSS goes down.

DirtyBathWater

Lmao!!!! Funny stuff man, now I know this pumping up of southwick is a complete joke lol……..ok I get it now! Man he is great he should start behind russell!!

If I didn’t know any better, I’d say all the southwick talk about him being a great up and coming QB is just a joke. He’s a nobody who played for a nobody college, signed with an Arena team (for a sec) and now he’s a walk on. But, some of these guys are pretty wierd so I wouldn’t put it passed them to genuinly think that about him…

Vick-to-Pats rumor continues to pick up steam
Posted by Mike Florio on July 31, 2009 1:33 PM ET
The hot rumor today, as evidenced by 25 or more e-mails we’ve received on the topic, has been that quarterback Mike Vick was spotted on a plane to Boston’s Logan Airport.

Various versions of the rumor have been shared with us, with the details ranging from the flight occurring Thursday night to Friday morning.

The fact that the rumor was discussed on WEEI radio in Boston earlier today has done little to contain it, and the thing has now morphed into a rumor (possibly more) that Vick actually is meeting with the Patriots.

The locally popular Barstool Sports blog has ventured onto a limb on this one, reporting that Vick currently is meeting with the Patriots: “He is 100% meeting with the Pats right now,” the web site states. “That’s not a guess. That’s a fact.”

We don’t know whether Vick is or isn’t meeting with the Patriots. But since coach Bill Belichick didn’t rule out the possibility of signing Vick earlier today, we won’t rule out the possibility that Vick is in the building as of this very moment.

Thec

Az, Thanks Bro…. I lurk on this site daily, post rarely in the offseason. I have to admit this site is rather wild, funny, and amusing…